Friday, December 4, 2009

Grad Psych Students Develop 411 on H1N1

Graduate students in the doctoral Health Psychology Interventions course have been working to apply what they are learning this semester by creating an intervention to increase H1N1 vaccination by students on the UMKC campus. Using health psychology principles they have developed a brief educational presentation H1N1 Slideshow and accompanying quiz available on Blackboard website. Students have also created a series of posters to encourage vaccination that will be placed around campus. Look out for the “KILL THE PIG” (referring to H1N1 or “swine flu”) posters. Instructors are being asked to consider offering extra credit for students who read the educational material and complete the quiz. Students are learning not only how to design community based interventions using sound psychological principles, but also gaining experience in navigating the challenges associated with putting a real intervention into place (the limited availability of the swine flu vaccine this fall being just one example!)